Melanie McCann
Hometown: Mount Carmel, Ont.
Sport: Modern pentathlon
Health advice that’s hardest to follow: “Recovery is key, but because I’m juggling five sports — fencing, swimming, equestrian, running and pistol shooting — I sometimes miss the rest I need.”
Pre-competition ritual: “The night before I eat a big bowl of pasta and pack my big red fencing bag with the items I need for each sport.”
How I celebrate a win: “I buy my coaches a big beer because it truly is a team effort to get a good result.”
Jennifer Abel
Hometown: Laval, Que.
Sport: Synchronized diving
Favourite sport to watch (that’s not my own): “Track and field. It’s not really long and the suspense is really nice. It’s only 10 seconds — and in that little moment, everyone is cheering.”
How I celebrate a win: “We have a BBQ at my parents’ place with all of my family — more than 40 people.”
Thoughts on Pachi, the porcupine mascot: “I have a niece who’s 18 months who loves him. It’s amazing because she’s young, but she can still enjoy the Pan Am Games with me.”
Photo, Vincent Graton.
Rosie MacLennan
Hometown: King City, Ont.
Sport: Trampoline
How I calm my nerves: “I have the words ‘As long as I breathe…’ tattooed on me. And at one of my first competitions, my brother reminded me: ‘At the end of the day, you’re just jumping up and down in a shiny spandex suit.’”
Favourite sport to watch (that’s not my own): “I really want to see wakeboarding and waterskiing. I have been waterskiing since before I can remember, and I took up wakeboarding as a teen. It was so much fun – I would always try to do flips but would bail pretty hard. I have never seen live competition but have watched a lot of videos online, I can only imagine the energy of those competitions live.”
Photo, Alexandre Claude, Courtesy Canadian Olympic Committee.
Morgan Bird
Hometown: Calgary
Sport: Para-swimming
Pre-competition ritual: “I zone out and visualize the race. I’ll also swing my arms and legs to make sure my blood flow is normal, and I listen to ’80s music to get pumped.”
How I calm my nerves: “I focus on what I can control and ignore what I can’t, like my opponents. I also have cue cards with motivational words that I read over.”
Photo, Kevin Van Paasan.
Related:
Canada’s top archer on why she loves the sport
How the Olympics inspire us all
Tessa Virtue on her pre-games superstition
A one-on-one with Heather Moyse